Directed

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday unveiled a capital expenditure (capex) plan for this year of $7.2-7.6 billion, with most of the funds directed to the U.S. onshore and Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The forecast capex for 2013 is sharply higher from a projection set last March of of $6.6-6.9 billion.

The Marcellus and Eagle Ford shales have exactly what the U.S. gas market doesn’t need right now: more gas on the way, according to natural gas analysts at Barclays Capital. They titled their latest note — an analysis of the effects of upcoming pipeline debottlenecking in the two plays — “Unleashing a Caged Monster.”

Low natural gas prices have created a buying opportunity among dry gas-directed companies for larger players whose pockets are lined with oil dollars, according to consultancy Deloitte. And in the midstream, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will be propelled by a consolidation trend among master limited partnerships (MLP), according to a midyear report on M&A activity.

Low natural gas prices have created a buying opportunity among dry gas-directed companies for larger players whose pockets are lined with oil dollars, according to consultancy Deloitte. And in the midstream, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will be propelled by a consolidation trend among master limited partnerships (MLP), according to the firm’s midyear report on M&A activity.

As had been expected, the acquisition of Australia’s Eureka Energy Ltd. by Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. is to be completed, Aurora said in a letter to Eureka shareholders. Both companies have acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas. Eureka has three core assets with a combined net acreage position of 6,742 acres, all focused on the Eagle Ford, according to the Australian company’s website. “The assets are at different levels of maturity throughout the value chain, from ongoing production and development, appraisal and development to initial technical development,” the company said. Aurora participates in multiple separate joint ventures that form a contiguous land position totaling 76,989 acres that sit at the heart of the Eagle Ford, according to the company (see Shale Daily, July 3; May 1).

“The truth is that Gasland is mostly hot air,” the narrator of Truthland says in the trailer for the new film.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Thursday directed the Marine Well Containment Co. (MWCC) to conduct a live drill this summer of its $1 billion oil spill containment system, which was developed following the the Macondo well blowout and deadly rig explosion in in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in 2010.

What a difference a year makes. When President Obama directed Energy Secretary Steven Chu last March to establish a subcommittee to assess the environmental impacts of shale gas drilling, industry interpreted this as bad news. But last Tuesday members of the subcommittee went as far as to defend the industry and criticized detractors of both hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and shale gas development.

What a difference a year makes. When President Obama directed Energy Secretary Steven Chu last March to establish a subcommittee to assess the environmental impacts of shale gas drilling, industry interpreted this as bad news. But Tuesday members of the subcommittee touted the industry and criticized detractors of both hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and shale gas development.